Can Anyone Be A Real Estate Investor?

As a professional real estate investor for more than 12 years, I thought that it would be helpful to share my 10 principles of real estate investing success with you that I use all of the time. To become a successful real estate investor is not easy and it took me a while to get everything right. During my journey I experienced many frustrations and almost gave up a few times.

The 10 principles that I use for successful real estate investment prevented me from giving up so I encourage you to use them for yourself. I operate in the UK but you will find that all of these principles apply wherever you are in the world. So, let’s get on with it shall we?

Just to encourage you to read this short guide, one of my most recent real estate investments provided a 1270% return on my capital!

• Principle 1 — You Need the Right Mindset

When I first started out, I knew that real estate investment would be tough so I decided to study the traits of successful real estate investors so that I could develop the same mindset as them. I knew that they would have experienced a lot of difficulties on their journey so it was important for me to understand how they coped with everything. Here are the traits that I discovered:

· Successful real estate investors know their stuff — they were all very knowledgeable

· Real estate investment was their focus

· Successful real estate investors are patient

· They never relied on emotion in any of their deals

· Successful real estate investors depend on their instincts

· They are mentally tough — this is critical

· They are good at relationship building

· Successful real estate investors use leverage

I identified any weaknesses that I had with all of these traits and then worked on these until I was at a competent level. You need to make a commitment to work on yourself every day and I have been doing that for over 12 years now.

• Principle 2 — Stick with One Real Estate Investing Strategy

When I first became involved in real estate investment, I learned that there were a number of different strategies that I could use such as “buy to hold (or buy to rent)”, “flipping” and more. I made a big mistake in the beginning by trying to use more than one of the different strategies.

You need to choose the best real estate investing strategy for you and then stick with that until you have mastered it and experienced success. If you dabble in different strategies then it is unlikely that you will achieve the results that you are looking for.

• Principle 3 — Set Real Estate Investment Goals

Once I started to set goals for more real estate investing business, I had total clarity and I knew exactly where I was going. My goals also inspired me each day to overcome the different obstacles that I encountered and keep going. I cannot recommend this highly enough.

• Principle 4 — Make a Plan for your Investments

Once you have set your goals then you need to make a plan for your real estate investments. When you are just starting out this is not the easiest thing to do as you are still learning. But you must do it, because you do not want to just jump in without a plan. Add your knowledge gaps to your plan. Create daily tasks from your plan.

• Principle 5 — Make a Commitment to your Education in Real Estate Investment

Real estate investment is a huge subject and I made a commitment that I would learn new things every day. This has worked very well for me. There are a ton of resources online and you can purchase books and training courses. Getting an experienced mentor to help me with my real estate investment business was one of the best things I ever did.

• Principle 6 — Invest in the Right Locations

The best opportunities for real estate investors are often outside of the area where they live. You need to be committed to finding the locations that have the best opportunities for you. Be prepared to research a different location for the best deals. Make connections with realtors and other people in that area that have the information that you need.

• Principle 7 — Research and Research some more

You can never do too much research with real estate investing. I made a costly mistake when I first started out because I didn’t perform enough research. There are many important things that you need to look at such as:

· Data on recent property sales

· Rental prices

· Planned developments

· Local laws and regulations

· The local neighbourhood

Research is not the most exciting thing in the world but it is essential if you want to uncover the best real estate investment opportunities. I have seen many people fail because they didn’t do enough due diligence with their investment projects. Don’t make this mistake.

• Principle 8 — Know your Numbers

How do you know if a real estate investment opportunity will work for you or not? Well, the first thing you need to do is run the numbers. I have created some simple spreadsheets where I just plug in the numbers and I know in a heartbeat whether an opportunity will work for me or not. I encourage you to do the same.

• Principle 9 — You need Access to Money to finance your Investments

This is all about having access to the money that you need for your real estate investment projects. It does not mean that you have to use your own money. You need to understand the principle of leverage and how you can use other people’s money to finance profitable deals. I was able to take my business to the next level when I fully understood this.

• Principle 10 — Build the Right Team

You need the right team of people around you to succeed with real estate investing. Having good realtors on your team that really know their stuff is priceless as is finding good mortgage brokers and lawyers. This is a virtual team that you will use from time to time on your projects. I have a great virtual team that I totally rely on.

Conclusion

In this article I have provided you with just a summary of the 10 principles that I use daily for successful real estate investing. To read the full set of principles, please check out my “How To Become a Real Estate Investor” Ultimate Guide (2021). I wish you every success on your real estate investment journey.